Area Studies: Basic Concepts (L2)
A. Area Studies as Global Positioning Sensitivity
-what defines us& them ( the romance of the other creates ‘us vs them’ view)
-power of the observer
-power in unexpected places
-power goes both ways
=> 1 era of Globalisation= silvertrade from America to China through Europe
B. Expressions of power:
1.Dressingmanner
2.Classification: Make sense of the world
BUT if 1group does the thinking/classifying for the other
3.Progress: in who’s opinion?
4.History: never neutral
5.Language: reflection social class,hometown
6.Tolerance &Distancing: expression of arrogance, seeming t be objective
7.Dialogue: more like a monolog often (Napoleon in Egypt, Babakiueria)
C. Concepts:
*conjuncture: big historical coincidences
*contingency: without A, B couldn’t ‘ve happened
D. Morris Suzuki:
1. Common identity categories:
-nations
-people
-races
-religions
2.Nature of identities:
-multiple
-fluid
-historical
-negotiated
(Japan as case study)
,Area Studies: Mapping&power (L3)
A. Japan Naturally a nation- sceptisism:
-History of considering the Ainu & Ryūkyū a different people
-Japan = modern creation (Meiji)
B. Ka i order:
Chinese concentric circular worldvision with the civilized Ka in the middle. the bigger the barbarism i
the farther from Ka.
relationships with Ainu and Ryūkyū Kingdom were important: represented subordination of
foreign people to Japanese dominion
Idea of ‘frontier’ changed ( for the West)
C. New hierarchie:
*Bunmei: foreignness as underdevelopment = “behind” in time, rather than far away from us in
space
Frontier areas not simply different from “us”, but earlier (inferior) versions of “us”
bunmei =
-dynamic concept: “progress”
-Emphasis on production
-Fukuzawa Yukichi: the attainment of bunmei = successive stages of development
D. Defining modern Japaneseness:
B.o. Bunmei-vision: emergence of a much more ambitious and totaling vision of "Japaneseness" than
in Tokugawa period.” (Morris-Suzuki)
-socio-economic order (small-scale farms)
-language (Tokyo middle class as standard)
-Assimilation attempts
Modern nationhood= ethnicity
Maps as ideology
E. Natural Japanse empire:
Indies & Japan born at the same time, both volcanic, lots of islands.
Geography= culture
cultural signs of common Japanese and lndies ancestry: words& place names in two languages that
resemble one another.
, Area Studies: Orientalism (L5&6)
A. Introduction:
Orientalism= lens through wich we look at the foreign countries and people of ‘the East’, man-made
trough several (historical) events,views,one-sided communication. The Orient is considered the
cultural rival of the Occident
*Occident: the West
European view:
Britain&France had colonies so more direct view.
Napoleon invaded Egypt with scientists
American view:
No clonies so less direct
Israel was ‘created’ by Amerika, so very politisized relationship
East (except for Israel) is demonized through generalizations
B. E-Said:
The orient= ontological&epistemological distinction between the orient and the occident. Corporate
institution for dealing with the East since 18e E. (What Europe wanted to see- the ‘romantic other’)
*Ontological: categories of being
*Epistemological: (theoretically) knowable
C. Causes:
1.Irresponsible journalism
East as a career (books with ‘recycled’ content, ‘experts’)
2.Hollywood
3.One-sided communication (no corrections from the East because of need of patronage from US to
dictators)
4.Legitimation for huge army funds Own problems are forgotten b.o. common ‘ennemy/problem’
5.Limitation of source material: mostly English literature, excluding German Orientalism.
D. Keywords:
*discourse: The way we talk&think about something constructs our view and reality of that subject
Vb. Google images Thahitians
Power imbalance= source
*Cultural hegemony: (Gramsci) Complex understanding of Culture = it’s forced and accepted
--> Cultuur wordt ons gevoed en wij slikken
*Intertexuality: Certain ways of accepted packaging( thinkframe) Vb. Dichten, in rijmschema’s
A. Area Studies as Global Positioning Sensitivity
-what defines us& them ( the romance of the other creates ‘us vs them’ view)
-power of the observer
-power in unexpected places
-power goes both ways
=> 1 era of Globalisation= silvertrade from America to China through Europe
B. Expressions of power:
1.Dressingmanner
2.Classification: Make sense of the world
BUT if 1group does the thinking/classifying for the other
3.Progress: in who’s opinion?
4.History: never neutral
5.Language: reflection social class,hometown
6.Tolerance &Distancing: expression of arrogance, seeming t be objective
7.Dialogue: more like a monolog often (Napoleon in Egypt, Babakiueria)
C. Concepts:
*conjuncture: big historical coincidences
*contingency: without A, B couldn’t ‘ve happened
D. Morris Suzuki:
1. Common identity categories:
-nations
-people
-races
-religions
2.Nature of identities:
-multiple
-fluid
-historical
-negotiated
(Japan as case study)
,Area Studies: Mapping&power (L3)
A. Japan Naturally a nation- sceptisism:
-History of considering the Ainu & Ryūkyū a different people
-Japan = modern creation (Meiji)
B. Ka i order:
Chinese concentric circular worldvision with the civilized Ka in the middle. the bigger the barbarism i
the farther from Ka.
relationships with Ainu and Ryūkyū Kingdom were important: represented subordination of
foreign people to Japanese dominion
Idea of ‘frontier’ changed ( for the West)
C. New hierarchie:
*Bunmei: foreignness as underdevelopment = “behind” in time, rather than far away from us in
space
Frontier areas not simply different from “us”, but earlier (inferior) versions of “us”
bunmei =
-dynamic concept: “progress”
-Emphasis on production
-Fukuzawa Yukichi: the attainment of bunmei = successive stages of development
D. Defining modern Japaneseness:
B.o. Bunmei-vision: emergence of a much more ambitious and totaling vision of "Japaneseness" than
in Tokugawa period.” (Morris-Suzuki)
-socio-economic order (small-scale farms)
-language (Tokyo middle class as standard)
-Assimilation attempts
Modern nationhood= ethnicity
Maps as ideology
E. Natural Japanse empire:
Indies & Japan born at the same time, both volcanic, lots of islands.
Geography= culture
cultural signs of common Japanese and lndies ancestry: words& place names in two languages that
resemble one another.
, Area Studies: Orientalism (L5&6)
A. Introduction:
Orientalism= lens through wich we look at the foreign countries and people of ‘the East’, man-made
trough several (historical) events,views,one-sided communication. The Orient is considered the
cultural rival of the Occident
*Occident: the West
European view:
Britain&France had colonies so more direct view.
Napoleon invaded Egypt with scientists
American view:
No clonies so less direct
Israel was ‘created’ by Amerika, so very politisized relationship
East (except for Israel) is demonized through generalizations
B. E-Said:
The orient= ontological&epistemological distinction between the orient and the occident. Corporate
institution for dealing with the East since 18e E. (What Europe wanted to see- the ‘romantic other’)
*Ontological: categories of being
*Epistemological: (theoretically) knowable
C. Causes:
1.Irresponsible journalism
East as a career (books with ‘recycled’ content, ‘experts’)
2.Hollywood
3.One-sided communication (no corrections from the East because of need of patronage from US to
dictators)
4.Legitimation for huge army funds Own problems are forgotten b.o. common ‘ennemy/problem’
5.Limitation of source material: mostly English literature, excluding German Orientalism.
D. Keywords:
*discourse: The way we talk&think about something constructs our view and reality of that subject
Vb. Google images Thahitians
Power imbalance= source
*Cultural hegemony: (Gramsci) Complex understanding of Culture = it’s forced and accepted
--> Cultuur wordt ons gevoed en wij slikken
*Intertexuality: Certain ways of accepted packaging( thinkframe) Vb. Dichten, in rijmschema’s
